A Decade After 9/11 -; A More Secure System

September 09th, 2011

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the MTA reflects on a decade that began with rescue and heroism, and finished with rebuilding and growth. The MTA has dramatically expanded security efforts since the attacks.

A Safer and More Secure Transportation System

One of most enduring changes wrought by the attacks has been conceptual as much as tangible. The events of 9/11 completely changed the way the MTA thinks about security. Since the attacks, the agency has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an aggressive campaign to harden bridges, tunnels, and other infrastructure to help prevent an attack or better withstand one. The MTA network now has nearly 4,000 security cameras, with close to 600 feeding directly into the NYPD and New York City Transit Command Centers. The MTA Police Department, which patrols the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and the Staten Island Railway, dramatically increased its presence and has built one of the largest and most robust explosives-detecting police canine units in the world. And the MTA created the "If You See Something, Say Something" public awareness campaign, which has encouraged public vigilance not just in New York but around the world.

"Ten years after 9/11, we reflect on the strength and resilience our city showed on that day, and every day since," said MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder. "Everything MTA employees have done since September 11, 2001, from the heroic actions of our first responders to the rebuilding, reshaping, and revitalization of Lower Manhattan, to the continual efforts of those on the front lines ensuring the security of MTA customers and employees, has helped to restore our way of life in New York."